NATO: Members of the Nato military alliance need to increase their air and missile defences by 400 per cent to counter the threat from Russia, the head of the military alliance was expected to say today.

In the latest warning of a Russian threat, Secretary-General Mark Rutte, visiting London, was set to warn that the expansionist bloc must take a “quantum leap in our collective defence to face growing instability and threats,” according to extracts released by Nato before Mr Rutte’s speech.

UNITED STATES: President Donald Trump’s new travel ban to the United States by citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries took effect today.

The new order, signed last week, applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

It also imposed visa restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

SOUTH AFRICA: All three people on board a light aircraft died when it crashed in South Africa, authorities said today.

The Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre said it had located the wreckage of the aircraft near the town of Greytown in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal after it went missing on Sunday. 

COLOMBIA: A court in the Czech capital sentenced a Colombian national to eight years in prison today for an arson attack and planning another one, in a case which authorities claim may be linked to Russia.

Prague’s Municipal Court also ordered Andres Alfonso de la Hoz de la Cruz to pay damages worth 115,000 koruna (around £4,000).

The defendant pleaded guilty.